Here Come the
Brides

As All My
Children's Bianca (Eden Riegel) and Reese (Tamara
Braun) head for the altar, executive producer Julie Hanan
Carruthers signals trouble ahead -- but it's not what you
might think.

BY Michael Fairman

February 12 2009 1:00 AM ET

There have been numerous times that the two
characters kiss full-on and are seen in bed together. It
seems this has been integrated in the soap,
instead of making it a major PR event. When I came to the show as EP, it was right
after the first lesbian kiss between Lena and Bianca.
That was almost six years ago. At the time it was a
really big deal, and it was covered in the media as,
“There was a lesbian kiss in daytime
television.” It was a huge milestone. I think the
story we are telling now, and the way it’s being
accepted, is a very interesting commentary on the
world.

Are you getting pushback from viewers? A little bit of pushback, but we have strong
ratings right now. People aren’t tuning out,
because they are connected to the characters. I think
the audience is more invested in the characters than the
political statement, and quite frankly, that is how
you open people’s eyes.

When you went about laying out the story, did you
just go with your gut instinct, or did you also do some
significant research?We trusted our guts. We went with, “We are
telling a love story and we are going to tell it like
we tell a love story.” So that was our
guideline. As far as technical things, we don’t know.
For instance, does Reese have rights to the children?
Is it automatic when they get married? Does she have
to adopt? If Bianca carried Gaby, is Reese considered a
parent? Does she have to get special papers to become a
parent? Those types of legal issues we had to study,
but as far as the human connection, we all went with
what we do here.